to be fucked off that stroes still feel the need to define toys by gender?

[GretaGip]

I've been wandering around all day looking for inspiration.

And it seems that within toy sales it's imperatiove to be prosciptive.

Surely one of the major retailers could realise that cupcakes and butterflies for grils and transport and dinosaurs for boys is just ouutdated and break free from the molud and then just sit back and wait for hoards of satisfued MNers to boost their sales.

AIBsimplistic?

Sigh.

But I suppose if you rarely think at all, and certainly if you're not the type to question things, then yes, this probably does seem like over-thinking to you.
I thought it was obvious - apparently not... I was taking the piss out of Fakebook for telling everyone to stop 'over-thinking'. She is the one fully admitting she doesn't think to think much.

Just because I disagree with you, I'm stupid and I don't think? . At least I haven't lowered myself into making personal attacks over something as trivial as this.. Absolutely pathetic. And you do not have a right to take the piss out of me because I disagree with your pattern of thought.

I have noticed on Mumsnet that there is a slight element of boastfulness about daughters not liking pink and glittery things, as if they are somehow slightly superior to the girls who do happen to like them. I have 4 daughters and some of them liked girly stuff, some of them didn't - they are all equally intelligent as far as I can see - inasmuch as girls shouldn't be made to feel they cannot like dinosaurs and space rockets, mothers shouldn't be made to feel that their daughters are silly or inferior if they do happen to like stuff that is perceived to be girly.

The statement is that there is too much emphasis on girls being encouraged to aspire to a very narrow idea of femininity. Obviously most little girls adore pink, because that's what's being sold to them.

Oh I hate the gender specificness of anything child related.

Everyone thinks DD is a boy because she wears a red puffer coat

I buy every colour of clothing including pinky colours. I don't discriminate which means she also has a lot of boys clothes. People look at her in dungarees and assume she is a boy. Just yesterday someone stopped me to ask as she had been debating over it with her friend. In a way I think it means I have been successful in creating a somewhat gender neutral environment for my DD.

I buy more boys trousers for her simply because they are made for more practical playtime's. Has anyone else noticed that? They even have the elasticated cuffs so nothing can go up the legs and I think that is brilliant for cold and windy days. It really annoys me that they don't do that for girls clothing.

Well it matters to me greatly if science sets are marketed as boys toys and kitchens are mrketed as girls toys. Is it not obvious why that matters?

My daughter has pink stuff. She also has cars and dinosaurs. Her favourite T-Rex is wearing a pink dress. He's a boy dinosaur aswell. What does this mean???!! Occupation-wise, she's determind to be a tattooist.

It mightn't matter to you how they're marketed but there are often threads on here along the lines of 'I won't/my dh won't let my son play with a doll's house/pram/tea set'.

So the marketing clearly works on lots and lots of other people.

Rollerblades in toy shops etc: childs sizes available in pink or blue.
Ditto lamps, hair brushes, school bags, bathrobes, towels.
And they sell because it is SO BLOODY HARD TO FIND THEM IN ANY OTHER COLOUR, and most people can't spend days searching for alternatives.

My DD hates both pink and blue. Thank God the internet exists so I can buy things in different colours.

I spent my childhood in blue, green, orange, brown, red...this choice does not exist for DD unless I try very hard.

And make her clothes.

As for shoes - we have to buy in the boys department because only boys apparently want shoes to run around in and not deform their feet by age 12.

Children's walking boots - why does adding a pink bit make them for girls only ?- the fit and style is exactly the sameas the "boy" version. It is a ploy to make sure you cannot hand stuff from a boy to girl or vice versa and have to buy a whole new set each time.

Is there a genetic marker for liking pink or blue?
No there isn't.

Did we have this pink/blue divide 20 years ago?
No we didn't.

Are both boys and girls human beings and members of the same species?
Yes they are.

Yanbu at all!

I was looking online for xmas presents the other day and the amount of websites that have their toys defined by gender drove me mad!!

John lewis does it, smyths toys does it, boots does it. I dont buy toys according to gender but i have to make an effort to go through the girls or the boys sections.

Why cant you just have a role play sectuon so all toy cookers and toy tools etc would be in that. A lego/construction section, a dress up section.

Toys are toys they are not gender specific so why shoukd they be marketed as such? Because its easy? Lazy? And yes it helps nanufacturers to sell more as thet can make girl or boy versions.

My eldest is 13 and it wasnt as bad when he was little, it has got much worse and children do pick up on this marketing and oeople do fall for it and without thinking will buy the gender appripriate version.

I was in m&s the other day and was looking at gruffalo pj's very cute and gender neutral, when the shop assustant realised they were fir my dd she directed me to the girls gruffalo pj's....yes they were pink!!! Ffs the ones i had been looking at wete red/green? I dont know why they even needed to make a 'girls' pair in pink but they have done!!

I've read this thread with interest as I am expecting DC1 (a girl) in January. In my opinion gender stereotyping really does matter, and I wonder to what extent I will be able to avoid it. Just buying baby clothes, I have been shocked at how little there is which is gender neutral.

I think the colour pink is a bit of a red herring, it's more what the colour symbolises. So I'd rather buy my little girl a pink fire engine, than a multicoloured toy kitchen, for example.

But the obsession with pink and glitter is a symbol of the way that as they grow up little girls will be judged on their appearance, on how pretty they look, rather than on what they say or do.

I think grimble hit the nail on the head earlier - as women have gained more legal rights, society has developed a more subtle way to control women, which is by making sure we spend all of our newly-acquired money and leisure time obsessing about our appearance. And the really clever bit is that we have been convinced that we are doing it because we want to.

I was in the hairdresser's a couple of days ago. My regular hairdresser is on maternity leave having just had a baby boy. I was chatting with the young hairdresser who did my hair about it who said my hairdresser had kept it secret which sex she was expecting. I said that when I had my babies there were no scans so it was always a surprise. She said she thought it was better to know because then you know whether to buy pink or blue!

This from clearly intelligent modern young woman.

I couldn't help pointing out that pink and blue were not the only colours and said that when my children were small their babygros came in wonderful colours - I have pictures of my daughters in orange stripey ones, ones with navy and red squares, yellow with red cuffs and collars and so on.

It goes back to my earlier post that clothes and toys are becoming more, not less gendered. And even young women are buying into this brainwashing.

See Mrsbusgywugsy - I feel quite strongly about 'pinking' things that aren't meant to be pink. I can't get too worked up about a pink scooter- except it would be refreshing if occasionally it came in orange or green, not pink or blue. But I get very cross about turning things pink for girls. Because it sends the subtle message that the 'real world' version is for boys. I would rather have a pink kitchen (let's fact it, pine ain't attractive to kids), pink scooter or pink doll's dress than a pink fire engine, or a pink rugby ball, or a pink globe.

The whole 'pink a normal thing to make it for girls' follows through into adulthood with the appalling 'pink it and shrink it' for 'women's' electrical goods.

How can you say it does not matter and it does not influence kids, when even on this thread we have little girls convinced they can only have pink items and boys who suddenly refuse to play with their friends, because those friends happen to be girls and therefore must only like "girl stuff"?
Where do they get such ideas from except for gendered marketing? Born this way? I don't think so.

grimble that's what we did - kept the sex a secret (partly to try and avoid pre-birth stereotyping!). The number of times I was asked, well how will people know whether to buy pink or blue? Or my favourite, if you're keeping it a secret you won't be able to show anyone the nursery as they will be able to see if you've painted it pink or blue!

Er... We painted it white. With green accessories. As we would have for either sex. Because we like white. And green.

Oooh white with green accessories sounds lovely blonder !

Thank you! We love it.

ok, starting to 'get it' now squoosh. I think because i have a boy it hasn't really concerned me, perhaps if i had a daughter i'd think differently.
However the whole gender stereotyping starts at home surely? Unless your kid is sat watching tv ads all day they're not really going to be affected by marketing. It's the parents who get sucked in then project their views onto their kids. What does that say about them?

I'm not much of a consumer myself and i'm not swayed by ad campaigns either.
My ds has a buggy, a dolly, a toy kitchen etc. which he loves. I've never turned round and said to him 'they're girls toys' because i don't think like that but i guess a lot of parents do. And no doubt when he starts school the children who's parents do think that way will then project their views onto my son.

As far as clothes go i hate pink and blue and have found plenty shops selling brights/stripes etc. even in baby clothes.

actually i think the gender stereotyping is just as bad for boys, one of my boys is a big fanof all things purple, pink and sparkly and happily wore dress up fairy outfits, tutus etc but i was slated on mnet for allowing him to do so and i think a lot of poeple happily let little boys play with girls stuff when they are toddlers but the thought of a boy wearing a tutu or doing more 'girly' stuff once they are school age and you get a barrage of NOOO dont let him he will be bullied etc! hello what happened to telling the bullies they are wrong! so boys get just as stereotyped and pink becomes a no go area for boys which is just as bad as it taking over girls things.

i have four boys and one girl, its been much easier to buy nice clothes for my dd, lots of variation in colours etc, whereas for boys tho it is available its much harder nad generally much more expensive to buy boys clothes that are not brown or blue or camoflauge, i have and do get nice stuff but i have to hunt harder for it, whereas for dd its quite easy to get nice non pink stuff, she does have some pink, but not much tbf, but all her clothes are bright and colourful.